A financial firm backed by a Chinese bank plans to launch China’s first physical-nickel backed exchange-traded fund (ETF) later this year, which could raise the country’s import demand for the metal, trading sources said on Thursday.

“(Details) will be out after October,” a trading source with direct knowledge of the proposed ETF said. “The ETF is aimed to launch this year.”

The source did not say how the ETF would be traded but said it was likely to start with at least 10,000 tonnes of refined nickel.

The ETF, if launched, would be operated by a bank-backed Chinese financial firm, which is expected to buy metal from local suppliers, including a large Chinese nickel importer, two trading sources t 10,000 tonnes of refined nickel.

The ETF, if launched, would be operated by a bank-backed Chinese financial firm, which is expected to buy metal from local suppliers, including a large Chinese nickel importer, two trading sources said. The sources declined to name the financial firm and the bank.

“We heard about the ETF plan in the middle of last month and have heard very few details since then,” a trader at a large Chinese trading firm said.

Traders said speculators expecting the ETF to be launched had been increasing imports of nickel as it raised investment demand.

China imported 18,990 tonnes of refined nickel and nickel alloy in July, up 32.45 percent from a year earlier.